On This Day in History: October 15

The tale of Mata Hari

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She was born Margaretha Zelle in 1876 in the Netherlands but is known to history by her stage name: Mata Hari. She was an exotic dancer, a courtesan, and a spy. But that stuff about her spying for Germany during World War I is likely a pant-load. Didn’t stop France from executing her though. They needed a scapegoat, and she was convenient.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: October 15, 1917--

At 18 she married a wealthy Army Captain in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) 20 years her senior who had advertised his desire for a wife. He was a drunk who beat her and cheated on her. As a way to escape how shitty her life was, she studied Indonesian culture and dance.

The couple moved back to the Netherlands when she was 24, and separated. Her husband basically abducted their one surviving child and Zelle had no financial means to get her daughter back, so she moved to Paris the following year, in 1903. Within a year she obtained fame as an exotic dancer. She was flirtatious and captivated wealthy men with her provocative nature. To appear more exotic, despite being white as white, she posed as a Javanese princess. Cultural appropriation for the win!

Her success spawned many imitators, but by 1912 she was getting older and heavier and you know how that goes for the dancing career. Still, she remained popular among powerful men who wanted to sleep with her. Then, war.

As a Dutch citizen she was able to cross borders during the war because the Netherlands was neutral. Since she had performed for the German crown prince, France asked her to spy on him, thinking said prince had access to military secrets (he didn’t). But then the Germans offered her money to spy for them. She took the money, but it is doubtful she did any actual spying for Germany. Overall, she was shit at being a spy, generating no intelligence for either side. Pissed off at the lack of results, Germany sent a “coded” message that was intended to be intercepted; it mentioned this awesome spy of theirs who was obviously Mata Hari.

The French intercepted the message as planned, and arrested Zelle in February 1917 and put her on trial to distract from the Great Mutinies of the French Army. During her trial prosecutors alleged she provided intelligence to the Germans which caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Allied soldiers, which was total bullshit; it was incompetent leadership that caused those deaths. The only “evidence” presented was to slut-shame her, saying her lack of morals meant of course she was guilty. The all-male tribunal quickly convicted her, and she was executed by firing squad on October 15, 1917.

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